


Watching and Learning

by ashisfriendly



Category: Parks and Recreation
Genre: Drabble, F/M, Meet-Cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-02
Updated: 2015-08-02
Packaged: 2018-04-12 13:46:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,167
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4481510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ashisfriendly/pseuds/ashisfriendly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A woman has joined Ben on his morning commute. A very pretty woman. [aka a silly meet-cute drabble for no reason]</p>
            </blockquote>





	Watching and Learning

**Author's Note:**

  * For [c00kie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/c00kie/gifts).



Ben first sees her on a Monday.

There isn’t anything new or different about that day. His alarm goes off on time, he hits snooze twice, the water pressure in the shower still annoys him, and he eats his toasted bagel with butter and an apple for breakfast as he reads the Journal on his iPad.

And his day is still uneventful as he walks to the coffee shop across the street and orders his coffee. It tastes the same, the barista is the same, and his bus is on time. He sits in the back as usual and he puts in his earbuds and presses play on one of his favorite morning commute playlists.

It’s not a significant Monday until the third stop along his route. Not until “Man on the Moon” ends and “Wish You Were Here” starts. 

She has her money ready, dropping her quarters into the dispenser with a smile. He watches her little, pink mouth move to greet the driver and Ben knows Hank never talks to his passengers but she doesn’t seem to care. She turns, pulling the strap of one of her three bags up her shoulder. The bus jerks and she holds onto the handle above her head. She’s little, so short she can barely reach the overhead handles. The bus stops and she moves with the pull in a clumsy sway but she only smiles through it. 

She looks up and their eyes meet. Ben’s stomach drops and his chest tightens. The music in his ears is so loud as he watches her cheeks turn pink. Her blue eyes look down at her feet so she can walk through the bus, but he’s lucky enough to get another glimpse of a clear, summer sky before she sits down, facing away from him.

Her blonde hair is formed in soft waves that he wants to touch. He watches her little fingers untangle her own earbuds and she plops them into her ears. She nods her head and sways and Ben tries, really tries, to look anywhere but at the back of her head. So he looks at her slender shoulders, covered by a red cardigan and a scarf. Or at a bag she has sitting next to her. In one of his stronger moments, he looks out the window.

She gets off the bus at the stop before his, rushing to grab all her bags and throwing her phone into one as she steps off the bus. She’s walking as the bus pulls away and she doesn’t even look up at the bus.

He pretends not to be disappointed.

Ben sees her for the second time the next day. She’s wearing a skirt and her legs are curved and short and when she steps off the bus, he sees the muscles clench in her calves. 

On the third day he sees her, Ben catches her eye again. She smiles at him and his body lifts and he understands what Superman must feel like when he takes flight.

Many days go by and he learns a lot of things about her. He learns her phone case has a cartoon penguin on it. He learns she likes to read political thrillers. He learns that he misses her on the weekend. Ben realizes she smiles most on Mondays and looks a little down on Fridays. He learns she doesn’t wear a wedding ring.

On a Thursday, she falls asleep.

She came onto the bus not as chipper as usual and she sits down as soon as she can and leans her head on the top of the seat, her neck long and pretty as her chin points up. Her chest rises and falls beneath her polka dot blouse. Her head tilts and her she twitches once but stays asleep. 

But Ben knows her stop, and it’s coming soon, and she’s still asleep.

He looks around as if someone would know what he should do, or as if one of her friends is on the bus and can wake her up. When they roll through the stop before hers, he realizes his leg is shaking and he’s tapping his knee with his fingers. His heart is jumping into his throat and he needs to do something.

He walks to the front of the bus and holds onto a handle while he shakes her shoulder. She’s warm and she smells like vanilla. Her head rolls to her other shoulder and her cheek lands on his hand before she blinks her eyes open. Her face rubs into his knuckles and waves of electricity travel up his arm, filling his chest.

She gasps and looks at him, eyes darting from his hand to his face. He lets go of her and then reaches behind her to pull the cord. 

“Um, sorry, it’s just, uh, your stop. It’s your stop next.”

“Oh,” she says. She looks out the window and around the bus as if she’s remembering where she is, who she is, and what’s happening. “I’m -- sorry, uh. Thank you.”

“Yeah,” he says.

She’s slow to gather her things and Ben is reluctant to move away from her. She puts a bag on her shoulder when the bus stops.

“Shit.”

Ben grabs her other bags and she is protesting his help but he’s telling her to get off otherwise the bus will leave without her and it’s not a big deal and he’s happy to help. They’re walking off the bus and she’s telling him she is sorry while she touches his arm. He never wants her to stop touching him.

“This isn’t your stop,” she says as Ben hands her the other bags. 

“Nope.”

Her mouth tilts, confused. He shrugs and she laughs. 

“I’m Ben.”

“Leslie Knope.”

“Since I’m going to be late anyway,” Ben says and Leslie slumps and her bottom lip sticks out just a little, “can I buy you coffee?”

“I should buy you coffee.”

“We’ll split it.”

She smiles big enough to take the chill out of the air and nudges his arm with her shoulder before she starts down the street. When he looks down at her, she bites her bottom lip until it comes away from her teeth swollen and red.

He learns more things about her over the next few days. He learns that she likes his blue and red striped tie and that his hair looks different on Tuesdays. He learns that Leslie likes to watch Discovery Channel and History Channel and has a bit of a hoarding problem. He learns how to do a cat’s cradle. He learns she tastes like sugar at any time of day and that her left knee has a scar on it. He learns that her toothbrush is green and she loves waffles. He finds out it’s possible to cry at a credit card commercial. 

He learns that when his fingers dig into her hips and his name falls from her mouth, that it’s the most perfect sound in the world.


End file.
